Power Play
' |image= |series= |production= 40275-215 |producer(s)= |story= Paul Ruben Maurice Hurley |script= Rene Balcer Herbert J. Wright Brannon Braga |director= David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708756 |guests=Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien, Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien, Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, Ryan Reid as Transporter Technician, Majel Barrett as Computer Voice |previous_production=Conundrum |next_production=Ethics |episode= TNG S05E15 |airdate= 24 February 1992 |previous_release=Conundrum |next_release=Ethics |story_date(s)=Stardate 45571.2 |previous_story=Conundrum |next_story=Ethics }} =Summary= The USS Enterprise approaches Mab-Bu VI, from where it has detected a distress call. Commander Data discovers that the distress call is standard for Daedalus-class starships, which went out of service 172 years ago. He then finds that the USS Essex, a Daedalus-class ship, was lost in the region 200 years ago. After concluding that assessing the situation from the ship is inadequate, Picard decides that an away team must visit the moon. Troi indicates that she "feels" a living presence on the surface. Data announces that electromagnetic interference from electrical storms precludes the use of the transporter to the moon; Picard authorizes a shuttlecraft mission, manned by Riker, Data, and Troi. As the shuttlecraft travels towards the moon's surface, the crew loses control, and Data makes a crash landing. By the time the shuttle lands, all communication with the Enterprise has been cut off by electromagnetic interference. Riker suspects he has a broken arm due to the crash landing, and the three crewmembers emerge from the shuttlecraft to learn about their surroundings. They observe the front of a massive electrical storm, and Riker comments that it appears nothing like the front of any other electrical storm he has seen before. A tricorder scan indicates EM bursts across the entire spectrum. Back on the Enterprise, the crew discuss rescuing the crew of the shuttle. Ro Laren states she can use the descent angle of the shuttlecraft to approximate the landing site. Miles O’Brien proposes that he should transport to the surface and use a pattern-enhancing device to allow a reliable transport of the away team. Geordi cautions Picard that O’Brien's chance of surviving the transport is about "fifty-fifty." O’Brien acknowledges the risk, and Picard grants permission. O’Brien safely transports to Mab-Bu VI, and he is greeted with relief by Riker. As O’Brien prepares the transport procedure, the crew is struck by what appear to be bolts of electricity. All but Riker are incapacitated, and he hastens to begin the transport. Just before the four are transported, however, three light sources enter the bodies of Data, Troi, and O’Brien. Upon their return to the Enterprise, Data, Troi, and O’Brien insist that the Enterprise conduct a survey of the southern polar region of the moon. The rest of the crew refuse. The three then stage a violent uprising and take command of the ship. They use hostages as leverage to force Picard to change course. Dr. Crusher determines that Riker was not affected because the pain from his broken arm repelled whatever force possessed the others. Troi, the leader of the mutineers, then reveals that she is the captain of the Essex. She claims that their spirits were trapped in the electromagnetic fields of the moon, and if the Enterprise transports their bones back to Earth, they can be set free. However, Picard is skeptical of her claim because of their violent actions. La Forge, Crusher, and Ro devise a plan to separate the possessive entities from the crew members' bodies by inducing pain, then containing them by flooding the area with a particle field. However the plan fails when Data suddenly moves out of the attack area. After Data threatens to kill everyone in the room, Picard agrees to comply with their demands. He tells Riker to let Data, Troi, and O'Brien move safely to one of the cargo bays. Picard, Worf, and Keiko O'Brien accompany them as hostages. After they arrive, Picard challenges Troi about her claim to be captain of the Essex, and she reveals that the moon is a penal colony. O'Brien uses the transporter to beam hundreds of other prisoner entities into the cargo bay. These prisoners are to take over additional crew members' bodies so they can commandeer the Enterprise and return to their home planet. The bridge crew activates the particle field, which sequesters the other prisoners. They then prepare to blow the cargo bay hatch, which would kill the six crew members in addition to all the prisoners. Picard, Worf, and Keiko each declare that they're willing to die, which forces the three prisoners to relinquish their hosts. Worf beams all prisoners back to the moon. Data apologizes to Worf for the way he acted when possessed by a prisoner, adding that Worf must have exercised extreme self-control to not just smash Data to scrap. Worf says "You have no idea!" =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # Troi leaning back in the chair just before the shuttle crash. She is ensuring there is enough space for her head to move forward without hitting the console. # Riker knowing that Troi was involved in the attempt to taks control of the ship, despite being rendered unconsious while Troi was still in the captain's ready room. Riker noticed that Picard was on his own when he entered the bridge, and that Troi was absent along with Data and O'Brien, who had already attacked him. Nit Central # Chris Thomas on Tuesday, June 22, 1999 - 3:56 am: Hundreds of the spirits are in the cargo at the end and are trapped by an energy field. When Picard points out to the three spirits in Troi, Data and O'Brien there is no escape, they fly out of the bodies and join the other spirits. How? The energy field traps hundreds of spirits - they can't get out or they would possess the entire crew. So how do the three spirits manage to get through the containment field? Bit too convenient...It could be a one way field, designed to stop them getting out. # ltdodd on Thursday, August 02, 2001 - 2:25 am: Troi says at the end that the prisoners had tried escaping from the moon onboard the Essex 200 years earlier. My question is why would the Essex fly into that atmosphere? Or why they would investigate it at all since Enterprise only responded to the Essex's distress signal They may have detected something that warranted further investigation, and somehow got caught in the gravitational field. # Makgraf on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 - 10:09 pm: When the hostage swap with Picard was first arranged, Picard and the Medical Team entered, Picard was taken prisoner but the aliens allowed the Meds to take away all the wounded. Why didn't they take them hostage as well, they had plenty of time to (and the motivation). They couldn't risk being overpowered by the medical team. # The most unbelieveable thing happened at the end of the episode though when they and 3 hostages were in Cargo Bay 4. Picard said that if they didn't surrender the bodies he'd blow the hatch. If I had been in that situation I'd have a security team with phasers set to kill, storm the area. The hostages were all grouped together as were the aliens. Most likely at least one of the 3 hostages could've been saved. Too risky – use of phasers in that situation could have resulted in the situation getting worse. # Will on Monday, March 18, 2002 - 10:20 am: Riker, Data, and Troi respond to the distress signal with an itsty-bitsy, puny, cramped shuttlepod, that's smaller than today's Volkswagon! Does this make sense? There would barely be room for a fourth person to be transported (Let alone how Troi had room in there, when shuttlepods are long established as 2-person craft), and certainly no room for a fifth. A bigger shuttle might have ridden the storm easier. The shuttlepod may have been regarded as more manoeuvrable. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 5:51 am: In Up the Long Ladder, Riker identified an old distress signal, but in this episode he has to ask Data if he can identify what turns out to be a more recent distress signal. Also Data thinks he has heard it before and must verify, but Data is an android and has a computer memory, if he had heard it before he would know it. The signal is probably being distorted by the magnetic storms. # So in the two centuries that the Essex has been missing no one thought to send a search party after them? Let's face it, if a search party had come to this moon wouldn't they have picked up the distress signal. Their last reported position may have been inacurately recorded. # Wouldn't a manual release of the usual shuttle door be wiser than explosively blasting off the back hatch? At least with a manual door opening one could close the door for protection. The manual release may have been damaged in the crash. # Since three of the four members of the Away Team are acting funny, wouldn't it be logical to suspect Riker of also being under the influence? True, he didn't act suspiciously, but Picard doesn't know that his broken arm prevented that spirit from taking him over.If he had been under the influence of the aliens, he woulld have joined the others in attempting to seize control of the ship. # These Ux-Malians are certainly inconsiderate. There was absolutely no warning that the moon was a prison. No transmitted messages, no satellites, or marker buoys, no orbiting ships saying, "Stay away, or else!" Any passing ship could have allowed the prisoners to escape. LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 8:10 pm: This is one of those unanswered questions that could be explained in a number of ways. The Ux-Malians managed the prison planet, but were killed off, or some disaster occurred that left unable to keep caring for it. Maybe scavengers or pirates stole the buoys. Maybe they didn't know everything about the spirits, and thought they would die after a while. # rich on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 6:37 pm: Was watching this and wondered, why didn't Riker call for a red alert as soon as he recovered? General quarters would have made sense under the circumstances, especially when you think of all the time in Star Trek a red alert is called for almost no reason. Of course, if he had then there would have been no hostages, etc, etc. He didn't have enough information to justify Red Alert. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation